2.5 Million Families on £100k/year Don't Feel Rich

tomstickland

I think the ridiculously overinflated property market is the biggest factor to this debate,

This is something that I've been thinking about a lot recently. I remember 10 years ago when a single man my parents knew who earned a reasonable salary bought a 3 bed house, and someone else I knew who was a single policeman also bought a 3 bed newbuild on his own. Nowadays it'd be a 1 or 2 bed flat.

tomstickland

mitchaa wrote: »

When you are stationary at a roundabout waiting for that gap to open up to move, that gap comes, the impatient male late for his work behind looking right obviously thinks she must have moved, puts the foot down and bang into the car in front who has stopped at the roundabout for a picnic break.

This is quite a common occurance. I had 2 near misses like this years ago. Both times I spotted what was happening in time. I'm very aware of it now.

lieutenant_dan

tomstickland wrote: »

This is something that I've been thinking about a lot recently. I remember 10 years ago when a single man my parents knew who earned a reasonable salary bought a 3 bed house, and someone else I knew who was a single policeman also bought a 3 bed newbuild on his own. Nowadays it'd be a 1 or 2 bed flat.

More likely nowadays the policeman in that scenario would not even get a mortgage on a single salary wherever he lives in the country! As the mortgage market has tightened up and it's back to three and a half time multiples with bigger deposits required, this type of worker is still below that level.
You also look around at people in their 50s/60s now, many of whom started out in average paid work, who are now sitting in 2/3 bed houses worth over £200/£300k. The irony is they would not have got anywhere near owning such a house if they were starting out now with that type of work, probably not even able to afford a modest flat either.
It seems crazy to think you could get a "decent" job now and only be able to afford a flat, yet you could have been a butcher or a postman or a factory worker previously and bought a multiple roomed house.

PasturesNew

Police Pay
Constable, 2 years after starting, about £26k
http://www.police-information.co.uk/policepay.htm#constables

Davesnave

lieutenant_dan wrote: »

You also look around at people in their 50s/60s now, many of whom started out in average paid work, who are now sitting in 2/3 bed houses worth over £200/£300k.

That's right, but another irony is when they want to cash it in and downsize to somewhere nice, the price differential can scupper that idea. Just try swapping a 4 bed semi in Derby for a 2 bed bungalow in Dawlish and see how much change you get!:rolleyes:

In my local farming paper we have a local builder offering to put up a traditional small bungalow for around £65k if you have your own plot. The chances are, however, that the plot, if you can find one, will cost twice that amount.

It's about the cost of land. Houses themselves can be made relatively cheaply. Many believe that the standard of living has risen since the 'old days,' but it depends how you define that, I think.

SingleSue

lostinrates wrote: »

I know of City lawyers clocking those hours, and self employed people.


http://www.rollonfriday.com/ThisWeek/News/tabid/58/Id/376/fromTab/58/Default.aspx

You have to be hospitalised for hours to be considered OTT! (some people have said, its the wrong career for her :mad: heinous)

I regularly worked 80 hour weeks...week in and week out.

Ok the conditions were better (a nice corporate office) and the pay even nicer but it still gets to you doing that non stop every week without a break for months on end.

ukcarper

A load of rubbish is talked 4 bed detached surrey Hants borders 300k deposit 30k repayments at 5% approx. £1600 a month. 100k take home approx. £5400 a month. So after paying mortgage £3800 that’s about 2.5 times what someone on average wage takes home it’s so hard on 100k.

kabayiri

mitchaa wrote: »

Its hard enough doing a 12hr shift, nevermind 14 on the trot in very poor conditions. Its not as if you they go down the pub, have a beer and ogle women in their offtime, they go in the shower and ogle hairy arsed smelly men, and then get their heads down. They also miss out on family life, xmas's, birthdays, weddings, so on and on, so i think their salaries are justified for the severe restriction to their lives. 3wks off is great but your 2wks on is soul destroying. All the guys on the rigs count the days down each and every day they are there. 12 days to go, 11 days to go, ''Oh' it's choppers eve'' and so on and on. I've had a stint offshore and hated it but some enjoy the peace and quiet away from families and obviously the financial rewards.

Pah, amateur league

I'll tell you what scores highly in the top trumps of Working Hours League.

From the Indian IT contractors I work with / compete with for work (usually at the same time) :-
- when posted here, 2 weeks a year leave....and you can forget having Diwali off
- the guys I know work about 10 to 10.5 hours a day here
- they save up holidays to go home every other year. No wonder the children's ages are 2, 4, 6 etc...
- back in India its either a 10.5 or 11.5 hour day, plus a daily commute which can be 4 hours on top.

Working alongside these people I am reminded what standards we will have to match to compete in a global marketplace. I think some of our workplaces are cushioned by comparison.

kabayiri

SingleSue wrote: »

Ok the conditions were better (a nice corporate office) and the pay even nicer but it still gets to you doing that non stop every week without a break for months on end.

The other killer is the weekly commute at weekend from one end of the country to make your way home, if you have been sold onsite by your beloved employer.

Driving back from Bracknell / Reading regions on a Friday afternoon about 3.30 could sometimes mean arriving home well after 10pm. Hitting that wall of traffic gives you the sinking feeling, and half way through your weekend you start to feel down at the thought of the Sunday night return trip.

When people analyse the backdrop to some of these high salaries, they will start to see the downsides.

PasturesNew

I used to work away all week, travelling back at weekends. That was good pay, but the dot com bubble burst and overnight it all stopped, then there was a drop in rate and it was good money if you lived near it, but not if you were doing hundreds of miles to get there/back and stay in B&Bs.

I'd do it again though. Except now I am not tied down to a house, so I'd just relocate closer.